Day: May 22, 2019, The National Angler

AARON MARTENS RIDES DEEP DROP-SHOT TO WIN AT TABLE ROCK

MLF pro Aaron Martens connected with 50 fish for 86 pounds, 4 ounces today, claiming the Championship trophy at the Bass Pro Tour Stage Six on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake

BRANSON, Mo. (May 22, 2019) – If you ask Major League Fishing® (MLF) pro Aaron Martens what his least-favorite technique is, he’ll giggle and tell you “Drop-shotting, bro.” It’s a running joke that the West Coast native has maintained for several years, claiming that he’d much rather be flipping a creature bait swimming jig, all the while racking up win after win using a technique he helped pioneer.
Martens can now add 100,000 more reasons to love the drop-shot.
Methodically plinking his way around a series of offshore brushpiles and flooded cedar trees in the main stem White River on Table Rock Lake, Martens connected with 50 fish for 86 pounds, 4 ounces, running away with the Championship Round of the Bass Pro Tour Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber and claiming a $100,000 paycheck (plus his first MLF championship trophy).
And he did it in true “A-Mart” fashion. While first-period leader Andy Montgomery watched his shad-spawn bite flame out in the second period, Martens kept a steady fish-catching pace from lines in to lines out, starting the morning connecting with multiple fish on a spinnerbait and swimbait between Moonshine Beach and Indian Point before picking up the drop-shot rod in the second period.

Martens stayed in the same area throughout the rest of the day, battling the wind and current while repeatedly dropping a Roboworm to fish he was seeing on his electronics and putting 34-14 on SCORETERACKER® in Period 1, adding 33-12 in Period 2 and holding on to the lead through the final period with 14 fish for 14-7.
“I spent my whole practice graphing,” Martens admitted. “I figured if I could find more waypoints and schools, that’s how I should spend my time. I knew every day the fish were going to change, but I had my graphs pretty dialed in where I can see fish in the trees, and see if they’re a bass, a white bass or shad. I know the bluff walls were a big deal, but I just felt better about what I had deeper.”

Montgomery Bet on Shad Spawn
Montgomery came out of the gate like he would run away with the trophy, thanks to the same morning shad spawn he had exploited all week long. Montgomery piled up 49-13 in the first period to open up a 15-pound lead on Martens and the rest of the field. But Period 2 proved to be the difference-maker of the day: Montgomery put only 8-11 on SCORETRACKER in 2 ½ hours, and could only keep working his docks as Martens overtook him with 30 minutes left in the period.

MLF pro Andy Montgomery finished second in the Bass Pro Tour Championship Round, also catching 50 scoreable bass. His weight totaled 77-14.

The South Carolina pro finally gave up on his dock pattern as the third period started, picking up a flipping stick and locating better-quality fish: five of his 10 fish in the final 2 ½ hours were 2 pounds or more, allowing Montgomery to stay within distant striking distance of Martens.
“There were a lot of signs that told me (I should’ve changed), but I just couldn’t quite pull the trigger soon enough,” Montgomery admitted. “I caught them so good (in the Knockout Round), but most of that was largemouth. Today, it was all spotted bass on those docks. I didn’t think that those largemouth could’ve moved out that fast, but I guess they did. I had a good third period flipping, but I wish I’d done it in the second period.”

Table Rock Showed Out
Although Table Rock is one of the most well-known tournament venues in the country, the six days of Bass Pro Tour competition showed this impoundment of the White River in a whole different – record breaking – light. Some of the most notable numbers from the week:
*   6,078 fish were put on SCORETRACKER
*   Total weight on SCORETRACKER for the field for the event was 9,815-2
*   Martens’ total weight for four rounds was a record 283-4
*   Cliff Pace weighed in a record 179 fish

Championship Notes
Martens’ victory is his 11th tour-level win. It’s also Martens’ first win in the MLF catch/weigh/immediate-release format.
Jeff Sprague took over the Points Championship lead with another strong event: Sprague has 417 points, followed by Edwin Evers with 414.

Stage Six Results

To see final results for Stage Six, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com and click “results.”

BOBBY LANE LEADS TOPS 10 INTO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND AT MLF BASS PRO TOUR BERKLEY STAGE SIX PRESENTED BY TRUE TIMBER

BRANSON, Mo. May 21, 2019) – The only things that could shut down the Table Rock Lake bite for Major League Fishing® (MLF) pro Bobby Lane were Mother Nature and sundown. The Florida pro would probably still be catching Ozark Mountains bass at a record pace if impending darkness didn’t finally end competition at the Bass Pro Tour Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber.

Despite nearly five hours of delays in competition due to heavy wind, rain and lightning, Lane finished the Knockout Round with 95 pounds, 4 ounces, obliterating the existing Knockout Round weight record of 67-14 and breaking the single-day weight record of 89-5 set by Josh Bertrand just three days ago. Lane also established a new record for scoreable bass for the day with 60.

“It’s almost ridiculous to think that I caught 60 fish for over 95 pounds,” Lane joked as he started his tackle prep for Wednesday’s Championship Round. “I caught ’em and caught ’em and caught ’em like there was no end. I’m not sure it’s quite sunk in yet, but what a cool record to break.”

Lane’s performance secured him a spot in his first 10-angler Championship Round of the 2019 season.

Working Through the Weather

The morning looked like it would belong to Andy Montgomery. Taking advantage of the shad spawn and a fierce spotted bass bite brought on by the approaching storm front, Montgomery connected with 31 fish in Period 1 for 47-5. That was part of a period in which 480 fish hit SCORETRACKER® for 782-5 (both Bass Pro Tour records).

By the time the first weather delay shut down competition after the second period, Montgomery had piled 50 fish on SCORETRACKER for 78 pounds, 2 ounces, a 10-plus-pound cushion over Lane in second place (67-11). But while Montgomery fell off his morning pace once lines went back in for the third period, Lane continued to add to his total, catching 18 fish for 27-9 in the third period fishing bluff walls for spawning spotted bass.

“I couldn’t go to a straight bluff wall, I had to find bluffs with little dips where fish could get up around the edges and corners,” Lane said. “I needed the bait to sink about 5 feet, so I needed a bluff with some kind of lip or shelf. All I had to do was get the bait on that shelf and they’d kill it.”

Day Makers and Heartbreakers

Although Jordan Lee’s presence in a Championship Round is nothing new – Lee has advanced out of the Knockout Round three times in six events – the way he did it on Table Rock is notable. The Stage One Kissimmee winner ended Period 1 in 36th place out of 40, with only five fish and 7-9 to show for it (just under 19 pounds out of the Top 10). Lee put together a third-period flurry of 20 fish, including seven in the final hour for 11-15.

That propelled him past Jacob Powroznik, Jonathon VanDam, Michael Neal and Gerald Swindle for his first Championship Round since Stage Two Conroe.

Championship Round Welcomes First-Timers

Lane isn’t the only angler in the Championship 10 who will be fishing his first final round. He’ll be joined by Championship Round first-timers Zack Birge (second with 86-0), Andy Montgomery (third with 83-4), Cliff Pace (fifth with 79-5), Greg Vinson (sixth with 76-9) and Aaron Martens (seventh with 75-1). Jacob Wheeler, Mark Rose, Ott DeFoe and Lee round out the final 10.

Daily Winners

Knockout Round daily awards were:

* The Berkley Big Bass of the day was a 5-13 largemouth caught by Andy Morgan

* Lane was the Berkley Catch Count winner with his record 60 fish

* Lane also earned the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with his 95-4

When, Where & How to Watch Wednesday

Competition begins on Wednesday’s Championship Round at 6:30 a.m. CT, with live, official scoring available via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m.

Knockout Round Results

To see Knockout Round results for all anglers, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com and click “results.”